1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to archery vibration dampening systems and sighting systems. In one non-limiting embodiment an improved peep sights that integrally provides vibration dampening or silencing capability as well as sighting ability is disclosed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Archery peep sights are devices that mount onto a bowstring in order to improve sighting and aiming ability (see FIG. 1, peep sight 28). A peep sight is used analogously to the rear sight of a rifle, in that it creates a viewing line from the archer's eye to a forward sighting point used for aiming. Archers and hunters have long used peep sights on their bows to improve sighting and aiming.
Vibration dampeners may also be mounted on a bowstring by archers to reduce noise and other effects following a bowstring stroke (see FIG. 1, vibration dampener 26). A bowstring dampener, also known as bowstring silencer, reduces audible and inaudible oscillations in a bowstring after the arrow is released in a shooting stroke. The noise reduction is accomplished by transferring some of the remaining vibratory energy into the nodules and protrusions that are part of the string silencer. The transferred energy causes the nodules and protrusions to mechanically deform and oscillate thereby dissipating the remaining energy. An example of a conventional string silencer, fabricated from elastometric material, may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,584.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a conventional bowstring-mounted peep sight 28 in expanded size, and FIG. 3 further details an example of a conventional bowstring dampener 26, fabricated of an elastometric material, in expanded size.
The following United States patents are relevant to archery peep sights: Hutchins, in U.S. Pat. No. 295,252, discloses a stop comprising two adjoining hemispherical shells for attaching the stop to check-row wires.
McLendon, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,410,644, teaches a telescopic means for a bow wherein the target is magnified.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,771 discloses an archery peep sight adapted for securement on a stranded bowstring.
Inventor Troncoso, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,747, teaches a bowstring peep sight that can be easily and securely connected to the bowstring of a compound or non-compound bow.
Saunders, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,938, teaches a peep sight for mounting on the bowstring of an archery bow. The peep sight is resistively and frictionally stably mounted on and coupled to the bowstring, yet readily, manually relocatable at selected positions along the bowstring.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,186 is disclosed a peep sight device for mounting on the bowstring of an archery bow. The device is characterized in that it includes a skeletal ring and an interiorly-mounted transversely-extending frame. The frame demarks and defines a peep sight orifice.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,146 discloses a rear peep sight for use with an archery bow that has a sighting body with front and rear surfaces joined by a side surface and a mounting groove formed in the side surface for retaining the sighting body on a bowstring. A sighting aperture and a plurality of locator apertures extend from the rear surface to a bottom surface of a cavity in the sighting body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,408 discloses a peep sight device for a bowstring includes a pair of interengaged inner and outer sections, with a sight hole surrounded by a peripheral surface having a degree of taper such that substantially about 120° of natural light is available to the sight hole on each of two opposite sides of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,569, teaches a bowstring mounted rear peep sight comprising a transparent material, preferably acrylic.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,131,295 describes a rear sight that is adapted to be mounted on the bowstring of an archery bow having a front sight mounted on the bow. The rear sight includes a body adapted to be mounted on the string in a region which will generally be aligned with the user's eye when the string is drawn.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,275,327 is described a bow sight system including a bow sight assembly adjustably mounted to a base plate. The bow sight can include a conventional forward sight, such as a pin sight and a V shaped rear sight. Sighting through the V shaped rear sight groove allows the archer to see the forward sight if the bow and archer are in proper alignment.
In summary, these patents, each of which is incorporated by reference, describe a variety of peep sights, varying means of mounting peep sights, and means of sighting bows. None of these patents addresses vibration dampening as an improvement to the peep sight construction.
The need to dampen the vibrations in a bowstring upon firing has been a problem that bow shooters have contended with throughout the history of archery. Excessive vibrations can affect a bow's performance and create additional unwanted noise, and it is understood that such noise may make alert or frighten an animal target. To date this problem has been addressed by adding dampening devices that mount onto the bowstring, such as that shown FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, as a further accessory to a peep sight. Unfortunately the mounting of such accessories onto a bowstring reduces the net arrow speed because of the increased inertial mass of the bowstring and because of air-frictional losses created by the extra devices during a shot.
Even after many centuries of using archery peep sights, no one has heretofore combined the functions of dampening and sighting in one sight. It is believed that this failure was in part due to the lack of suitable materials of fabrication. However, the combination has recently become feasible because of the availability of advanced polymeric materials, that have now been novelly combined, as shown below, with new plastic processing and injection technologies such as “two shot molding” and “insert molding”.
In contrast to a conventional bow, a crossbow typically provides an aiming sight separated from the bowstring. Crossbows typically operate with much higher string tensions as compared to conventional compound or recurve bows. A common problem associated with the use of a string silencer with a crossbow, aggravated by the higher string tension, is the cutting of the string silencer by the crossbow string thereby damaging and compromising the performance of the silencer.